Chennai, July 16 (IANS) Tamil Nadu BJP President, Nainar Nagenthran, on Thursday appeared before the George Town Magistrate Court in Chennai and received a copy of the chargesheet filed in the alleged ₹3.99-crore cash seizure case linked to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The court adjourned the matter to July 30 and directed all accused to appear for the next hearing.

The case stems from a major cash seizure made on April 6, 2024, when officials of the Election Commission’s Flying Squad intercepted three men travelling on the Nellai Express at Tambaram railway station.

During the inspection, authorities recovered ₹3.99 crore in cash from the passengers.

According to the prosecution, the three men allegedly told officials that the money was being transported to Tirunelveli for distribution to voters during the parliamentary election campaign and that they were acting on the instructions of Nagenthran, who was then the BJP candidate from the Tirunelveli Lok Sabha constituency.

Following the seizure, the Flying Squad alerted Tambaram police, who registered a criminal case and arrested the three individuals.

One of those arrested, S. Sathish, was employed as the manager of Blue Diamond Hotel in Purasawalkam, a business owned by Nagenthran, and was also associated with the BJP.

The two other accused were identified as S. Naveen and S. Perumal. The seized cash was subsequently handed over to the jurisdictional tahsildar after the Income Tax Department was informed.

A few weeks later, the investigation was transferred to the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) for a detailed probe.

After completing its investigation, the CB-CID filed a chargesheet against 13 people, including Nagenthran and former BJP organising secretary Kesava Vinayagam, alleging their involvement in the case.

Appearing before the magistrate on Thursday along with the other accused, Nagenthran accepted the copy of the chargesheet before the court fixed July 30 as the date for further proceedings.

Speaking to reporters outside the court, Nagenthran maintained that the allegations were baseless and politically motivated.

He alleged that the case had been registered during the previous DMK government with political intent and said he had expected the present government to withdraw the proceedings.

However, he noted that no such decision had been taken and reiterated that he would contest the case through the legal process.

—IANS

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